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Startups need to be smart when competing with bigger rivals

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Startups have to be clever when fighting larger rivals

You won’t find any Founder Mode discourse on this week’s newsletter, although the memes still appear. Instead, here’s your usual dose of startup news, from big rounds to pivots to recent product launches.

This week’s top startup stories

Image sources: Bryce Durbin / TechCrunch

When facing larger rivals, startups often have to be smart in regards to the fight. There isn’t any one right answer, which explains why many change their minds along the best way when they’re unlucky.

Brighter sky: The closure of X in Brazil is a profit for rival social network Bluesky, which has seen an enormous influx of latest users since last weekend. This was especially noticeable since it remains to be significantly smaller than Threads Meta and its 200 million monthly lively users.

Chat Battle: Anthropic has launched Claude Enterprise, a subscription plan for firms curious about using its AI chatbot, but with administrative tools and more safety features. It will compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT Enterprise.

Throw within the towel:Shortly after raising $500 million in Series B funding, German AI startup Aleph Alpha is moving away from LLM competition to AI support with the launch of a brand new product called PhariaAI.

Still kicking: NightCafe doesn’t have the identical buzz as rival Midjourney, but its AI-powered art tools have over 25 million users. That also translates into profits; a source told TechCrunch that NightCafe is doing $4 million in annual revenue.

Piggyback: HR and payroll software company Paylocity has agreed to acquire enterprise startup Airbase for $325 million, nearly half its 2021 valuation of $600 million. Founder Thejo Kote said Paylocity’s size and scale will help Airbase reach a much larger audience.

This week’s top fundraisers

Ilya Sutskever-open ai
Image sources: JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images

Another way to get ahead of the competition is to increase funding, but differentiation, innovation and reaching recent markets are equally essential.

Three months later:Safe Superintelligence (SSI), a startup founded just a couple of months ago by OpenAI founder Ilya Sutskever, has raised over $1 billion in funding, with the corporate reportedly being valued at $5 billion.

AI Agents:With $50 million in recent funding, You.com is narrowing its focus—hoping to turn its AI right into a productivity engine that solves complex search queries.

Hospital at home:Doccla, a British virtual hospital ward startup that helps hospitals manage patients remotely, has raised $46 million to expand into Europe.

Microcapsules:French cleantech startup Calyxia, a B Corp, has raised $35 million in a Series B funding round that may help it develop alternatives to microplastics, that are a growing pollution problem.

Fintech MENA:Ziina, a YC alum from Dubai, has raised $22 million in Series A funding to proceed growing her P2P payments app, which already has 50,000 retail and business customers.

The hottest news from the VC and fund industry this week

Ramneek Gupta, the capital of PruVen
Image sources: ProVen Capital

Proven: PruVen Capital, the fintech and insurtech enterprise capital firm founded by Ramneek Gupta, formerly of Battery Ventures and Citi Ventures VC, has closed its second fund at $378.5 million. Unlike the primary fund, which had Prudential Financial as its lead LP, this new-vintage fund can be backed by others.

Mainstream climate:The fourth climate-focused fund raised by Dutch firm SET Ventures has closed at €200 million, twice as large as its previous one. It will be deployed to 20-25 early-stage European startups which might be making renewable energy more mainstream.

AI Incubator:VC firm Mayfield Fund has committed $100 million to the newly launched AI Garage, an incubator for idea-stage founders curious about constructing “AI-powered” firms.

No less essential

Image sources: Palantyr

Palantir CTO Shyam Sankar has develop into “the secret weapon for Valley defense tech startups,” reports TechCrunch’s Margaux MacColl. He was considered one of the primary hires of 2023 to launch a program called First Breakfast, which doesn’t provide breakfast but offers a set of software tools that can provide recent defense tech startups a bonus.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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US medical device giant Artivion says hackers stole files during a cybersecurity incident

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Artivion, a medical device company that produces implantable tissue for heart and vascular transplants, says its services have been “disrupted” resulting from a cybersecurity incident.

In 8-K filing In an interview with the SEC on Monday, Georgia-based Artivion, formerly CryoLife, said it became aware of a “cybersecurity incident” that involved the “compromise and encryption” of information on November 21. This suggests that the corporate was attacked by ransomware, but Artivion has not yet confirmed the character of the incident and didn’t immediately reply to TechCrunch’s questions. No major ransomware group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.

Artivion said it took some systems offline in response to the cyberattack, which the corporate said caused “disruptions to certain ordering and shipping processes.”

Artivion, which reported third-quarter revenue of $95.8 million, said it didn’t expect the incident to have a material impact on the corporate’s funds.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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It’s a Raspberry Pi 5 in a keyboard and it’s called Raspberry Pi 500

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Manufacturer of single-board computers Raspberry Pi is updating its cute little computer keyboard device with higher specs. Named Raspberry Pi500This successor to the Raspberry Pi 400 is just as powerful as the present Raspberry Pi flagship, the Raspberry Pi 5. It is on the market for purchase now from Raspberry Pi resellers.

The Raspberry Pi 500 is the simplest method to start with the Raspberry Pi because it’s not as intimidating because the Raspberry Pi 5. When you take a look at the Raspberry Pi 500, you do not see any chipsets or PCBs (printed circuit boards). The Raspberry Pi is totally hidden in the familiar housing, the keyboard.

The idea with the Raspberry Pi 500 is you could connect a mouse and a display and you are able to go. If, for instance, you’ve got a relative who uses a very outdated computer with an outdated version of Windows, the Raspberry Pi 500 can easily replace the old PC tower for many computing tasks.

More importantly, this device brings us back to the roots of the Raspberry Pi. Raspberry Pi computers were originally intended for educational applications. Over time, technology enthusiasts and industrial customers began using single-board computers all over the place. (For example, when you’ve ever been to London Heathrow Airport, all of the departures and arrivals boards are there powered by Raspberry Pi.)

Raspberry Pi 500 draws inspiration from the roots of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, a non-profit organization. It’s the right first computer for college. In some ways, it’s a lot better than a Chromebook or iPad because it’s low cost and highly customizable, which inspires creative pondering.

The Raspberry Pi 500 comes with a 32GB SD card that comes pre-installed with Raspberry Pi OS, a Debian-based Linux distribution. It costs $90, which is a slight ($20) price increase over the Raspberry Pi 400.

Only UK and US keyboard variants will probably be available at launch. But versions with French, German, Italian, Japanese, Nordic and Spanish keyboard layouts will probably be available soon. And when you’re in search of a bundle that features all the things you would like, Raspberry Pi also offers a $120 desktop kit that features the Raspberry Pi 500, a mouse, a 27W USB-C power adapter, and a micro-HDMI to HDMI cable.

In other news, Raspberry Pi has announced one other recent thing: the Raspberry Pi monitor. It is a 15.6-inch 1080p monitor that’s priced at $100. Since there are quite a few 1080p portable monitors available on the market, this launch is not as noteworthy because the Pi 500. However, for die-hard Pi fans, there’s now also a Raspberry Pi-branded monitor option available.

Image credits:Raspberry Pi

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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Apple Vision Pro may add support for PlayStation VR controllers

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Vision Pro headset

According to Apple, Apple desires to make its Vision Pro mixed reality device more attractive for gamers and game developers latest report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

The Vision Pro was presented more as a productivity and media consumption device than a tool geared toward gamers, due partly to its reliance on visual and hand controls moderately than a separate controller.

However, Apple may need gamers if it desires to expand the Vision Pro’s audience, especially since Gurman reports that lower than half one million units have been sold to this point. As such, the corporate has reportedly been in talks with Sony about adding support for PlayStation VR2 handheld controllers, and has also talked to developers about whether they may support the controllers of their games.

Offering more precise control, Apple may also make other forms of software available in Vision Pro, reminiscent of Final Cut Pro or Adobe Photoshop.

This article was originally published on : techcrunch.com
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